


Birds are Silent for the Night

by musicalgirl4474



Series: Psychology terms are Great Batfamily Prompts [5]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Batdad, Gen, The Justice League is Not Happy, Young Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 21:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17733266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalgirl4474/pseuds/musicalgirl4474
Summary: Central Route Persuasion- People focus on the arguments and agree verbally.Political RalliesThe Justice League Meets Robin“You’re a child,” Diana said plaintively.“Not anymore.”





	Birds are Silent for the Night

A child. An eight-year-old child. Wonder Woman fumed. Even in Amazon children were only just learning how to fight at that age. But Batman had that boy fighting crime in Gotham nightly. Nightly! Did the boy not have school?

Superman had called a partial meeting of the Justice League, Wonder Woman was the last one there. Already in attendance were Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Superman himself, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. All of them looked exasperated and angry.

“Was there no luck?” asked Clark as Diana sat down. She shook her head.

“We all know how stubborn he is. He will not listen to reason.”

“What about the kid? Could we somehow get him away from Batman?” John (The Green Lantern) said.

“Bats wouldn’t keep the kid against his will, likely he wants to be there,” pointed out Barry. “For all we know, Robin could really be Bat’s kid.”

“Not exactly, but close,” Clark said. “Bruce Wayne recently took in an orphaned acrobat, Dick Grayson.”

“An acrobat.” J’onn said. “Do you think that Batman may have been looking for a protegé?”

“Actually,” came a voice from above the table, startling the Leaguers. “I snuck out on my own first. Then I told him I’d keep doing it, whether he trained me or not.” The voice was young. Diana searched the rafters with piercing blue eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy. But . . . even if it had only been for a few weeks so far, he was trained by Batman.

“Robin.” Speak of the Devil and he shall appear. Batman stood in the doorway, all but swallowed in the black cloak he wore. “Come down here.”

The room was silent for a moment, then a red blur dropped from the rafters onto the Bat’s shoulders. He was small for his apparent eight years, Diana noticed, and he climbed on Batman as if the dark hero were some kind of jungle gym. Clark gathered himself first.

“Fighting crime is-”

“Dangerous. I know.” Robin stared at the Man of Steel, his gaze earnest, though they couldn’t see his eyes behind the black domino mask. “But so is not being able to do anything about it. If no one fought crime, everything would just get worse, wouldn’t it?” He was perched back on Batman’s shoulder now, steadier than anyone had any reason to be on top of another person. “Besides, I’ve been an acrobat since before I could walk. And furthermore, If I don’t try to help people, how can I be sure that anyone else would? Someone needs to make sure that more kids don’t lose their parents. Being a hero isn’t about sitting up in space, it’s not just the big bads. Our cities still need us.”

“You’re a child,” Diana said plaintively. 

“Not anymore.” The way the chilling statement was said left no room for contradiction. He slipped down from Batman’s shoulder again and left.

“So . . .” Flash said into the silence as Batman swept out of the room after his bird. “Did a kid just lecture us about the responsibility of being a hero?”


End file.
